"Men, they occasionally play around with women, someone like Wang Er Ya who seduced Gao Zhiru into sleeping with her. But really, would Gao Zhiru ever marry a village girl like her? What wishful thinking!"
Lady Ding what she said was full of contempt, completely forgetting that her own daughter was also a village girl.
"Listen to me, don’t be too hard on Gao Zhiru about this. He has gone to town to prepare for his examination. Once it’s over, you can talk to him nicely. Tell him you don’t blame him and that you’ll be satisfied as long as he marries you after he passes the exam."
Listening to Lady Ding’s analysis, Ji Xiulan felt that it made some sense. For her dream of becoming a government official’s wife, she had to endure.
——
When Ji Xinhe returned home, she told Ji Dong about the money she had earned that day: "Selling sour bamboo shoots really does make us some money. I brought thirty pounds of them today and they were all sold out. Next time we should bring even more, forty pounds at least! We have the bullock cart, so transportation is not a problem!"
Ji Dong was also pleased: "That’s really good! Just this morning we earned one and a half silver coins. That means we could have an income of three to five silver coins a month!"
The key is that making sour bamboo shoots didn’t cost much in raw materials. The shoots could be directly dug up from the mountain and preserved only with salt, so they didn’t need to spend much money.
Xiao Bei eagerly said: "Sister said we’re going to make big money in the future!"
Xiao Bei had absolute faith in Ji Xinhe.
Ji Dong also smiled: "If we keep going like this, we’ll earn quite a lot by the end of winter. When spring comes next year, we can use this money to buy a few acres of land. Big brother can take care of that land, and it should be enough to support us all."
"Relying solely on selling bamboo shoots will only earn enough money to buy two acres of land next spring. We will need to think of other ways to make money." Ji Xinhe planned to build a house away from Lady Ding’s family and send Xiao Bei to school next spring.
"Don’t we also have grape wine?" Xiao Bei blinked and asked.
"The grape wine needs two to three months to ferment, so it’s not the right time yet," Ji Xinhe thought for a moment, then suddenly said: "Do we have any fermented tofu here?"
This was also inspired by the sour bamboo shoots, no one here ate them, indicating that the development of pickles was insufficient. She wondered if fermented tofu existed here.
Xiao Bei blinked: "What is fermented tofu?"
"It’s fermented stinky tofu!"
Xiao Bei frowned: "Can tofu be fermented? And it’s stinky?"
Ji Xinhe immediately cheered up: "We’ll make fermented tofu!"
Although Xiao Bei didn’t understand what fermented tofu was, if his sister said it was delicious, it must be delicious! The wine was considered smelly but definitely delicious!
As soon as she decided, Ji Xinhe asked Xiao Bei to buy ten blocks of white tofu from Wang Po’s house, and she stood up to wash the jars. Last time she bought jars, the seller gave her two small jars because she bought many big ones, so she didn’t have to worry about jars now.
Ji Dong said: "I can do the washing, you prepare for making the fermented tofu."
"Okay!" Ji Xinhe agreed excitedly, and went to the kitchen to find a winnowing fan and wash it clean.
Soon, Xiao Bei came back with the tofu, rushing back and said: "Sister, the tofu is bought."
Ji Xinhe popped her head out: "Are you back? Bring it here."
Just as Xiao Bei was about to go into the house, he made a curious "huh" sound, squatting down and picking something up.
"What’s wrong?" Ji Xinhe came out of the kitchen. Xiao Bei quickly picked up a small basket from the ground and ran to Ji Xinhe: "Sister, someone has left something at our courtyard gate again."
Ji Xinhe wonderingly took it and looked. It turned out to be three pairs of cotton shoes.
Based on the size, it was probably one pair each for her, Xiao Bei, and Ji Dong.
"Who left this here?" Ji Xinhe asked.
Xiao Bei shook his head: "I don’t know, I saw it at the gate when I came back. Sister, could it be the same person who gave us chicken eggs last time?"
Ji Xinhe nodded, her doubts deepening. She definitely couldn’t expect such gestures from Ji Dashan, a cowardly father. They didn’t have any particularly good relationships in the village, who would repeatedly send them things? Last time it was food, this time it was a necessity. Even if someone wanted to give gifts, they should not do it secretly.
She had specifically asked Jin Bao last time, but Jin Bao knew nothing about this.
Who could it be? 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Ji Xinhe thought, then said: "Take the stuff inside first. We’ll have time to discuss this later."
"Right!" Xiao Bei got excited, saying with a smile: "Sister, these shoes are so nicely made, can I wear them?"
Ji Xinhe laughed: "Since someone gave them to us, wouldn’t it go against their good intentions if we didn’t wear them? Let me take a look tonight, then you can wear them."
Though these were gifts, Ji Xinhe still wanted to inspect them. She couldn’t just blindly trust anyone because after all, she still didn’t know who they were from.
"Okay!"
Xiao Bei huffed and puffed as he ran into the house with the basket.
Ji Xinhe got busy, going back to the kitchen to cut the ten blocks of tofu bought by Xiao Bei into small pieces, spread them out on a large winnowing fan, and placed them by the kitchen window to air dry.
It will take a day to air dry so it’s ready for pickling and the water in the tofu is completely removed.
After she finished, Ji Xinhe finally found some time to examine the shoes carefully.
Apart from anything else, the craftsmanship was indeed good. The uppers were made of cotton cloth, well-stuffed with cotton inside. The soles were also thick, convenient for stepping in the snow, and wouldn’t wet the shoes easily.
Actually, Ji Xinhe had been planning to make cotton shoes for them these few days, but she had been too busy to find the time. But somehow, someone had sent cotton shoes to their home.
This person must know their condition well, definitely someone from the village!
Ji Xinhe bit her lips and thought, who could it be?
Xiao Bei couldn’t let go of the shoes, smiled and asked, "Can I wear these shoes now?"
Ji Xinhe smiled and said, "Yes, they will keep you warm in the winter."
"Great!"
For now, let it be. Since someone kept secretly sending things to their home, she would eventually find out who it was. After all, this person was being kind to them, so Ji Xinhe was not overly suspicious.
Most importantly, these cotton shoes were really warm!
These days Ji Dong was busy fixing the stove at home; there were three rooms now, and each needed a stove. Ji Xinhe went to the town with Xiao Bei and Mu Houchu to sell sour bamboo shoots. After coming back, they continued to make sour bamboo shoots. The tofu needed to be air-dried to make fermented tofu. The family was very busy.
After two days, it was the day of the provincial examination. The entire Yang Luo Bay’s discussion was focused on Gao Zhiru. After all, he was the only scholar in Yang Luo Bay and the only one qualified to take the examination.
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